What makes one salesperson successful and another unsuccessful? Popular books target characteristics such as ambition, initiative, self-confidence, tact…the list goes on. The common thread? Personality! Whether or not salespeople are aware of it, their personality shines through every interaction.

Understanding the role personality plays in the ability to close a sale is important. It’s easy when a salesperson’s personality closely matches his or her client’s personality. But oftentimes difficulties arise when a salesperson’s style does not match the client. For instance, a salesperson who works hard at building a relationship through friendly conversation is likely to encounter resistance from a client who just wants a quick answer.

Salespeople who know their own personal selling style and are able to flex it to match their clients’ personal style are more successful than those who don’t. What’s My Selling Style is a quick and easy way to identify personal style, pinpoint their clients’ styles, and then make adjustments to more closely match their clients where necessary.

Based on the proven personality theories of Marston and Jung, the self assessment measures an individual’s preference for one or more four basic behavioral styles: Direct, Spirited, Considerate and Systematic. With this knowledge, individuals can better understand their behavior, the behavior of others, improve people skills, and effectively manage interpersonal relationships. 

Learning Outcomes

• Identify one of 4 personal selling-style preferences
• Understand how to leverage style strengths and avoid trouble spots
• Learn the clues to determine customers’ personal styles
• Discover how to adjust to match the customer’s style
• Find out how to sell to any personal style

Theory and Development

The power behind What’s My Selling Style and the HRDQ Style Series products lies in the simple but effective model for understanding human behavior. Based on the proven personality theories of Marston and Jung, the model identifies two basic dimensions of personal style: Assertiveness and Expressiveness. Assertiveness is the effort a person makes to influence or control the thoughts or actions of others. Expressiveness is the effort that a person makes to control his or her emotions and feelings when relating to others. Combining the two dimensions results in a four-quadrant model with four unique personal styles: Direct, Spirited, Considerate, and Systematic. The simplicity of the HRDQ Style Model is easy for trainers to facilitate and memorable for individuals and salespeople to apply.

Uses for the Assessment

What’s My Selling Style is appropriate for anyone to use for both personal and management development. The assessment can be used as a standalone training assessment, or it can be incorporated into a more comprehensive sales or negotiating training program. 

How It Works

What’s My Selling Style starts with a 20-item self assessment that takes approximately 10 minutes to complete. Individuals complete each sales-related statement with the word or phrase that best describes their typical approach to sales. Scoring the assessment reveals a “My Selling Style Profile” and a dominant preference for one or more four personal styles: Direct, Spirited, Considerate, and Systematic.

If you are planning to use What’s My Selling Style in a classroom training session, we recommend you allow approximately 1 hour for interpretation of scores, topic discussion, debrief, and action planning. The What’s My Selling Style Facilitator Guide includes everything you need to lead a successful training session from comprehensive background information and activities, to reproducible handouts and even a professional PowerPoint presentation. The Facilitator Guide also offers an easy-to-follow workshop outline that expands What’s My Selling Style into a 1.5-hour program.

What to Order

What's My Selling Style is available in both Online and Print Versions.

The Online Version is an excellent choice for enterprise-wide training or audiences that are geographically dispersed. It offers 24/7 access, streamlined distribution, and instant scoring. Each Online Assessment includes personalized reporting, full-color charts, interpretive information, worksheets, and action planning.

The Print Version is ideal for facilitators who prefer to oversee scoring and administration of the assessment, if you don’t know who the participants will be before the class begins, or if your learners do not have easy access to computers. Includes pressure-sensitive forms for scoring to aid manual tabulation. The accompanying Participant Guide includes interpretive information, worksheets, and action planning.

Initial Rollout
 
You will need to order a Facilitator Guide per trainer and either 1 Print Participant Guide or 1 Online Assessment for each individual learner. The Starter Kit is a great way to begin your rollout and includes a Facilitator Guide and 5 Print Participant Guides or 5 Online Assessments. Additional Participant Guides or Online Assessment credits may be purchased separately. Purchasing all of the participant materials you need at one time may qualify you for quantity discounts that can save you money and simplify ordering.